Young Conor O’Malley must face his mother’s terminal cancer, his strict grandmother, his estranged father, and his school bully, Harry. One night at 12:07 a.m., Conor encounters the tree-like Monster, who tells Conor it has come to relate three true stories, after which Conor will tell the Monster his own story, the truth behind his nightmare. They continue to meet at 12:07 a.m. or p.m., and Conor ultimately understands that though he does not want his mother to die, he understands it is inevitable and something he must accept, and that he wants the experience to be over. After this, Conor returns, with the Monster by his side, to comfort his mother one last time, and she dies at 12:07. He returns home with his grandmother, who becomes caring towards him and gives Conor a room of his own, a room that used to be his mother’s. In the room he finds his mother’s old art book, which depicts the characters of the stories that have been told by the Monster, and a drawing of his mother as a child with the Monster.